FitzGerald calls state budget a 'train wreck'

Friday

Jun 28, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2013 at 5:00 PM

Gov. John Kasich called the two-year, $62 billion budget he will sign Sunday "another very exciting moment and a positive moment for the state of Ohio." His possible competition in 2014 called it a "train wreck for the middle class" and called on Kasich to veto some of the budget's main provisions.

Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

Gov. John Kasich called the two-year, $62 billion budget he will sign Sunday “another very exciting moment and a positive moment for the state of Ohio.”

His possible competition in 2014 called it a “train wreck for the middle class” and called on Kasich to veto some of the budget’s main provisions.

In what’s becoming a Kasich tradition following passage of budget legislation, the governor, Ohio Senate President Keith Faber of Celina, and GOP House Speaker William G. Batchelder of Medina held an afternoon news conference at Kasich’s ceremonial mansion.

Earlier today Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald called a brief press conference this morning at the Statehouse to bash the budget and say it draws “a clear contrast” between him and Kasich.

Kasich hailed the budget’s net tax-cut of $2.7 billion over three years, centered around income tax cuts for all Ohioans and on the first $250,000 of income for business owners. The cuts are paid for by a slight increase in the sales tax, the elimination of the property tax rollback for new levies, and small changes to the Commercial Activity Tax.

“We are moving in the right direction on taxes,” Kasich said. “We have to continue to cut taxes. I have a commitment from the leadership that we will sit before too long and try to figure out how to do more.”

The budget also includes about $700 million more in the next two years on K-12 education, compared with the past two years, and provides up to 2,000 vouchers for lower-income kindergarten students. But Democrats say the budget fails to restore the funding schools have lost in the past four years ago.

There are also multiple abortion restrictions included in the budget, ranging from a ban on ambulatory transfers of patients from abortion clinics to public hospitals to a requirement of doctors to perform an ultrasound and inform the woman of the probability of carrying the fetus to full term before performing an abortion.

In an 11-minute, 40-second conference abruptly stopped after a FitzGerald aide said “that’s it,” FitzGerald carefully tied Kasich to the budget where applicable and at other times criticized the Republican governor for failing to get some of his proposals through a GOP-dominated legislature. Chief among them was Kasich’s proposal to expand Medicaid coverage to 275,000 poor Ohioans through the Affordable Care Act.

FitzGerald declined to say what he would have proposed on income taxes or what he would do about raising the state’s severance tax on shale drilling – another provision Kasich proposed that was tossed out of the budget.

“I think what’s been unique and I don’t think to the governor’s credit is I’m not sure if there’s been a budget that would pass where a governor, especially a governor who’s own party has control of the legislature had as many of his initiatives tossed out,” FitzGerald said.

Kasich said his pursuit of Medicaid expansion continues, and said “today is not a day to fight about what is not in here, today is a day to celebreate3 what I believe is an incredible accomplishment for this state.”

FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County executive (think mayor of the county) decried increases in the sales tax and eventual property tax increases in the budget used to pay for a massive income and business tax cut, as well as the numerous abortion restriction measures packed into the budget.

“(Kasich) still has an opportunity to use his veto power to tell the legislature to go back to the drawing board and get it right when it comes to those economic issues, those taxation issues, and those issues that are going to effect women’s health,” said FitzGerald, the only announced Democrat challenging Kasich in 2014. “If I were governor, I would, and this governor should.”

No Democrats voted for the Republican-crafted budget, which passed the legislature yesterday and is heading to Kasich’s desk for signature Sunday.

Faber said today that the budget “may not be perfect, but we should not allow perfect to be the enemy of great.”

Batchelder said, “This is a time where people will look at this administration and these two houses ... and say 'gosh, they promised a lot and they delivered more.'"